


Anne for the girl, Ace for the boy

by GemmaRose



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Twins, Amnesia, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Temporary Amnesia, Twins, well. temporary to an extent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-13
Updated: 2015-10-13
Packaged: 2018-04-26 07:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4994965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gol asked Garp to spare his unborn child. When Garp finally found Rogue, he spared both children of the Pirate King.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Friends, Family

Portgas D. Anne slunk around behind the nearest tree as her brother did his level best to beat the blond boy into the ground. The tophat-wearing jerk had stolen their money, _again_ , and after months of trying to kill the bastard Ace had declared he would do it for real this time. The hoard, the loot of all three of them combined, was small enough to carry over her shoulder. She tied the neck of the bag shut, hefted it, and took off for the spot where she and her brother had decided to move their treasure to. They’d actually been busy carving the new hidey hole out when their treasure got stolen, and Anne just hoped the blond hadn’t seen them at work.

Fifteen minutes after she finished emptying the treasure into its new home, her brother entered the clear-ish area around the tree.

“A~nne.” he raised his hands to his mouth, and she leaned over the edge of the branch to wave at him.

“Up here! Did you kill him?”

“Nah.” Ace shook his head, and smiled with more unadulterated glee than she usually saw on her twin’s face. “We’re allies now.”

“What?!” Anne nearly fell out of the tree, but managed to keep her balance. “You’re shitting me!”

“No, he’s not.” the blond came out from behind some bushes, and waved up at her with a big stupid grin to match her dumb brother’s. “Name’s Sabo.”

Anne scaled down the side of the tree easily, and stormed across the forest floor to the pair of boys. Sabo she gave another black eye, and Ace she caught on the jaw.

“The hell was that for?” Ace yelled, cupping where she’d struck him with one hand.

“I thought it was gonna be just us.” she blinked hard, and sniffed to keep her nose from running. “We was gonna go and be the greatest pirates ever, as _twins_.” she pointed at Sabo, who was only just sitting up and gingerly pressing on his newest bruise. “He’s not our twin!”

“Well, he’s not gonna be captain. We’re gonna be captain.” Ace frowned. “A pirate crew needs lots of people, right?”

“And if we work together, we can get money even faster!” Sabo piped up, still flat on his ass.

“Fine, but I’m keeping an eye on you.” Anne made a ‘watching you’ gesture, and Ace laughed.

\---

Five years later, Anne watched from atop a dead buffalo as Garp dragged a screaming brat up the path to Dadan’s. At her side, Ace scowled. He spat on Garp’s grandson, Luffy, and when the kid asked for an apology of all things Anne laughed. You didn’t ask pirates to apologize unless you were stupid. The next day, she giggled and helped her brother roll a tree down the hill to keep Luffy from following them. It didn’t work as well as they’d hoped, though, and she stood back as Ace charged and flung the kid over the edge of the rope bridge.

Luffy didn’t return that night, and when Dogra questioned them about it Ace lied and Anne shrugged. He was _probably_ at the bottom of the ravine, but there was no way of knowing that, was there?

The next night, she sat with her brother as the bandits worried about Luffy and cursed their father. She gripped Ace’s hand tight, and he held on even tighter. The only one in this world who cared about them was Sabo, and of course they cared for each other but even demons honoured the ties of blood. When Luffy returned, a week after Ace threw him from the bridge, Anne heard him lie to the bandits and wondered if maybe the kid was worth it.

She brought it up the next day as she and Ace crossed Mount Corvo, and her brother reluctantly agreed that having an ally in Dadan’s house would be helpful. But only a strong one, somebody who could keep up with them. Anne nodded, and resigned herself to wait for Luffy to grow strong and fast enough to follow them all the way to their meeting place.

Three months later, Luffy still hadn’t managed to follow them all the way into the Grey Terminal. Anne won the coin toss, so Ace played the part of hurt little kid and she clubbed the guys with the money while they were distracted. They bagged the loot, and Anne lead the way into the forest back towards their treasure tree.

"Sabo!” Ace called as soon as the branch came into view.

“Sabooo!” Anne echoed, grinning as her twin leapt over a gnarled root. “Ya here yet, lazybones?”

“You’re the ones who’re late.” he called down from the branch, lifting a hand in greeting. “Hey guys.”

“Sorry bout that.” Ace chuckled.

“You guys took so long, I did the job in town by myself.”

“Really?” Anne shifted her grip on the bag of cash, and held it up at the same time as her twin.

“So did we.” Ace said with her, their voices as one.

Sabo groaned, and sat back as they scaled the side of the tree. Anne clenched her pipe in her teeth, and easily leapt between the familiar handhold and footholds which lead up to their hollowed out chunk of branch. Ace followed on her heels, less nimble but surer in his footing for the care he took to make up for it. When the three of them were seated, the twins opened their bags.

“Awesome!” Sabo pulled out a wad of ten thousand beri bills, and flipped through them. “You got so much more than me. How’d you get your hands on this much cash?” he turned to meet Anne’s eye, and she smirked.

“I beat up a bunch of people by the gate.”

“ _We_ beat ‘em up, you mean.” Ace frowned.

“You got in one hit. I did the real work.” Anne huffed.

“Who’d be in the Grey Terminal with this much money?”

“Carriers for a merchant ship?” Ace ventured.

“Who cares _why_ they had it.” Anne grinned and fell back to lie across the branch, her legs hanging off the edge. “What matters is it’s ours now.”

“Ah, damn.” Sabo dropped the stack of bills he’d been flipping through. “You guys beat me again.”

“We do outnumber you.” Anne smirked.

“Who cares about winning. It’s _our_ stash of savings.” Ace kicked at her, but gently, not like when they beat each other into the dirt sparring.

“Yeah.” Sabo grinned, displaying his missing tooth. “I wonder how much we’ll need to buy a pirate ship.”

“Who knows.” Ace shrugged.

“I bet we still have a loooong way to go.” Anne added, reaching over and dragging her fingers through the loose coins and jewelry.

“Hurry and close it.” Ace interrupted her musing. “Who knows who’ll see us.”

“Pirate ship?” a familiar voice called up from below, and Anne’s heart leapt in her chest. “You guys wanna be pirates? Me too!” Luffy stood near the foot of the tree, waving his arms over his head as if he wasn’t perfectly visible already.

Ace and Sabo exchanged horrified looks, and practically threw themselves down the tree. Anne followed at a more sedate pace, and reached the ground as they finished stretching Luffy’s arms all the way around the wide trunk. Sabo knotted them quickly, and stepped back to pick up his pipe.

“So this is where you guys come every day?” Luffy looked between the twins. Anne nodded. Ace planted his pipe solidly in the rubber boy’s head, and nearly fumbled the metal when it rebounded.

“Shut it.” he said commandingly, planting one end of his weapon in the dirt.

“So this is that Luffy guy.” Sabo crossed his arms, grip on his pipe relaxing slightly.

“So, you finally made it all the way here.” Anne grinned, tapping her own pipe against her shoulder.

“Hey.” Luffy kicked out at Sabo, one sandal threatening to fly off at the blond’s face. “Are you their friend? Let’s be friends too.” he was practically beaming despite being tied up by his own arms, utterly oblivious to the glares being directed at him by the older boys. Anne returned his smile. He was the charming sort of stupid, like the puppy she’d found wandering the Grey Terminal a few months back.

“Aaand, this is why I told you guys you should stay here with me.” Sabo glared at her, then Ace. “That so called ‘mountain path training’ really bit us in the ass. What should we do now?”

Anne looked to her older brother as well, noting the stubborn set of his jaw which usually served as a front to disguise when he was afraid.

“He knows our secret. If we leave him alone, he’ll tell someone.”

“You really think so?” Anne tilted her head slightly.

“Absolutely.” Ace nodded once, resolute, and Anne thought for a moment. She’d never actually heard him succeed in keeping a secret save that once. He’d tell Dadan where their treasure was without a doubt, and then they’d have to move it all again or start over from scratch.

“Alright.” Anne sighed. She’d sorta hoped to gain an ally from this, but if he was a threat to their pirate fund then it couldn’t be helped.

“Let’s kill him.” her brother said after a moment.

“I agree.” Sabo tightened his grip on his pipe.

“It’s unanimous.” Anne said gravely, reaching for the crude dagger she’d made a while back out of some broken glass, a stick, and a bunch of twine.

“WHAAAAAAT?!” Luffy screamed, flailing his legs and clutching his hands into panicked fists.

“Don’t move, you idiot!” Sabo forced Luffy’s chin up, exposing his neck.

“I didn’t think you guys were gonna kill me! Help me, I don’t wanna die!”

“Sabo, do it!” Anne shoved the shank at her friend, and his hand slipped from Luffy’s jaw as he turned to give her a look which was part venom part uncertainty.

“What are you talking about? You do it!” he shoved the knife back at her.

“I’ve never killed a _person_!”

“Same here! I don’t know how!”

“You just cut his throat!”

“It’s your knife, you do it!”

“Would one of you just kill this runt already?” Ace had both hands around Luffy’s neck, and the younger boy was babbling something about knives as his head swung back and forth.

“HEELLPPP!” Luffy wailed, volume not diminished in the slightest by Ace’s stranglehold.

“SHUT UP!” the three young pirates roared back as one.

“Hey, I heard voices from here.” a voice called from the woods. “Children’s voices!” it came from the direction of the Grey Terminal.

“Crap, someone’s coming!” Sabo dropped his voice to a normal speaking volume, and Luffy’s face lit up in absolute glee.

“Untie Luffy!” Ace said quickly. “We gotta get away from here or they’ll find our treasure!”

Anne hung her knife from her grimy rope belt again, and yanked on one of Luffy’s wrists. He nearly backhanded her as his arms whipped around, contracting to more human dimensions with an audible snapping sound.

“Those children, Sabo and the Portgas brats, are infamous around here. You’re sure it was the demon twins who took your money?”

“Yeah. I can’t believe I fell for that dumb trick of theirs.”

“What stupid children, taking money from our crew. If captain Bluejam hears about this, he’ll kill us both.”

Anne swore under her breath, and hunkered down lower behind the bushes. The foliage made it hard to see clearly, but Porchemy was pretty damn recognisable. And if Porchemy was after them, then that meant...

“Damn, so that guy was one of Bluejam’s.” Ace snarled, frozen low to the ground at her side. “We got some dangerous cash this time.”

“He has a real sword!” Sabo hissed. “I’ve heard he scalps his opponents alive before he kills them.”

“I’ve heard he’s totally crazy.” Anne added in an undertone which wouldn’t carry far enough to reveal their position. “That’s Porchemy, by the way.” she added for Luffy’s benefit. The three of them turned to glance at the younger child, to make sure he was properly afraid, and their mouths fell open.

“What.” Ace rasped.  
“Where is he?” Sabo’s hissing whisper became a tense near-inaudible squeak.

“Let go of me, dammit!”

Their heads all snapped towards the tree, and Anne nearly facepalmed at the sight of Luffy dangling from Porchemy’s fist. Why the hell had he gone to the enemy?

“Anne, help me!”

The three of them immediately pressed close to the ground again. Holy crap, she’d underestimated how stupid this kid was. And from the looks on the boys’ faces, so had they.

“Did you just say Anne?” Porchemy lifted Luffy a bit higher, up to eye level. “Do you know the Portgas twins?”

“They’re my friends.” Luffy said brightly, as if his life wasn’t on the line. “Oh, but they did try to kill me just now.”

“Why does he keep talking?” Ace growled

“I’m going to ask you one thing. Today, those demons stole some money from us. Do you happen to know where it is?”

“Crap.” Sabo swore quietly. “They’re gonna find our treasure!”

“If he blabs, I’ll kill him myself.” Anne snarled. That treasure was their ticket out of here, the key to leaving their mark on the world.

“I- I don’t know.” Luffy said, looking off to the side and pursing his lips for the worst faux-innocent whistle she’d ever heard.

“You leave me no choice, then.” Porchemy chuckled darkly, shifting his grip on Luffy’s shirt and throwing the small boy over his shoulder. “I’ll make you tell us.”

“Hey! What are you doing?” Luffy struggled, but it was futile against the pirate’s huge hand. “Let go! Where are you taking me?”

Anne began moving almost without thinking, but stopped when Ace grabbed her arm.

“What are you doing?”

“You and Sabo move the treasure.” she met her twin’s eyes evenly. “I’ll follow them, and come back to give you a head’s up when Luffy squeals.”

“Good plan.” Sabo nodded, grabbing Ace’s free wrist. “Let’s get going.”

Anne let her twin be the one to break eye contact, but as soon as he and Sabo were in motion so was she. Pipe in hand, she scrambled through the trees after Porchemy and the goons she’d robbed with Ace earlier. Luffy was still shooting off his dumb mouth, demanding to be released, She dropped back a bit when they entered the Grey Terminal, followed them from just far enough back that it looked like she wasn’t really following them.

The pirates entered a shack made of scrap lumber and some big curved piece of metal which looked like it had once been part of some big machine. Anne very carefully picked the most solid bit of wall to loiter against, and waited. There was yelling, defiance from Luffy against anger from Porchemy, but Luffy’s defiance quickly turned to pained wails that hurt just to listen to.

Porchemy’s voice was difficult to hear under Luffy’s screaming and the background noise of the Grey Terminal, but Anne distinctly heard the names “Portgas” and “Sabo” before the goons she and Ace had robbed earlier yelped something affirmative and hurried out of the building. Anne stayed pressed to the wall until they returned, and her shadow stretched out over the trash heaps as she sprinted for the forest. Sabo met her at the edge of the trees, and lead her to where he and Ace had moved their treasure.

“Ace!” he called as Anne slowed to a stop and doubled over, hands on her knees. Her sides were in stitches from running full tilt all the way here, and Ace was at her side before her name was even all the way out of his mouth.

“Anne!” he gripped her shoulders, voice tight with fear. “Are they coming? Did they hurt you?”

She shook her head, and sucked in as deep a breath as she could manage. “They’re not gonna.” she gasped out, pulling herself upright. “Luffy hasn’t told them anything!”

Sabo and Ace’s mouths fell open in identical looks of shock, and Anne clenched her hands into fists. “We’re gonna go save him.” she turned on her heel, and took off back towards the Grey Terminal. Her legs felt like bags of wet sand, and her lungs screamed with each breath, but that didn’t stop her from keeping pace with the boys. She fell back just a bit as they approached the makeshift building, and charged in on their heels in the cascade of splinters.

“A- Aaaaaaace!” Luffy bawled, swinging in midair.

“Now that you’re here, things’ll go quicker.” Porchemy reached out, and his hand closed around Ace’s neck. “Your friend’s so tight-lipped, I was getting annoyed!”

“Anne!” her twin yelled, kicking at the air and struggling to pry himself free. She leapt into the air, adrenaline giving strength to her exhausted muscles, and brought her pipe down hard on the back of Porchemy’s head. His goons screamed as their boss fell, and Sabo’s voice cut through the din as Anne and her twin landed on their feet.

“Run!”

She glanced over, barely moving her head, and saw that the blond had managed to cut Luffy free and had the rubber boy over his shoulder. Porchemy was getting back up already, and Anne’s whole body was screaming at her to flee but she couldn’t just leave Ace to fight a brute like this on his own.

“You go first!” her twin gestured for Sabo to leave with Luffy, then shot her a glance which spoke more than and words could in the brief second of eye contact.

“Are you stupid!?” Sabo yelled, and Anne gripped her pipe tighter.

“I can’t just run away in the middle of a fight!” Ace snapped back, fire in his eyes.  
“I’ve got his back!” Anne called, aiming for reassuring.

“He’s got a fucking sword!” Sabo shouted, fairly audibly distressed.

“Hey...” Porchemy rumbled, hefting said sword. “You just made a bad decision, right? Just be good and hand over the money, brat.”

“We’ll put it to better use.” Ace snarled.  
“Hell no!” Anne yelled, her voice going high and shrill.

“Quit talking nonsense!” Porchemy lifted his sword for a swing, and there was a thump of Luffy hitting the ground.

“You wait here.” Sabo said firmly. Ace lunged forward, and Porchemy’s sword sliced clean through her twin’s metal pipe.

“If I lose to a couple of kids, I’ll quit piracy!”

Anne leapt straight up just before Sabo ran right into her, and launched herself off of his head with her most unholy shriek. Sabo threw himself upward not half a second later, and their pipes struck Porchemy on either side of his skull hard enough to leave a pair of bloody welts. The massive pirate grunted in pain, and then Ace struck. Porchemy made the most pitiful whine she’d ever heard from an adult, and collapsed.

Anne planted her pipe on the ground when she landed, and leaned on it to keep from collapsing. Ace was at her side in a heartbeat, the two pieces of his broken pipe clutched in one hand, and his free arm hooked around her back. Anne slumped against him, and placed an arm across his shoulders. As long as she and Ace were together, there was nothing they couldn’t do.

\---

Anne finished tying the last of the bandages around her twin’s ankle, probably injured when he and Sabo kicked down the wall, and sat back with a sigh. Luffy hadn’t moved from the rock Sabo had set him down on for bandaging, and he was still crying loudly.

“That’s a really bad habit, Ace.” their blond friend said without preamble, leaning back against the short rise of dirt and crossing his arms. “You can’t just say ‘‘I’m not gonna run’’ when you’re facing real pirates.” his glare flicked over to Anne. “Does your brother have a death wish?”

Anne glowered right back, and bared her teeth in a silent snarl. Sabo sighed, and looked at his feet. “After what you did, Bluejam and his crew won’t ever forgive us. They’ll come after us now!”

“I was so scared.” Luffy whimpered, a hiccup slipping out between sobs. “I thought I was gonna die.”

“Shut _up_!” Anne snapped, turning to glare at him. “How long are you gonna keep crying?”

“I hate weaklings and crybabies.” her twin added with equal venom and an even meaner scowl. “They piss me off.”

Surprisingly, Luffy shut his mouth at that. The sobbing immediately stopped, as did his streaming tears and running nose. He held still for a moment, lips pressed tightly shut and eyes huge in the dim moonlight, then abruptly bowed.

“Thank you.” his breath hitched slightly, and his shoulders shook. “For saving me.”

“Why, you-” Ace slid down the short embankment.  
“I’m gonna-” Anne moved in synch with her brother, not quite sure yet if she wanted to hit Luffy for being an idiot or hug him for being a cute idiot.

“Hey, hey!” Sabo grabbed both their arms before she’d even decided on a course of action. “He’s just saying thank you.”

“Anyway, how come you didn't spill the beans!?” Ace shook off Sabo’s hand and took a step forward, jabbing one finger angrily at Luffy.

“Those guys have no qualms about killing women and children!” Anne added, pointing at the little boy with her pipe.

“If I told, you wouldn’t have been my friends.” Luffy sniffled.

“That’s better than dying, isn’t it!?” Anne snapped at him.

“Why d'you want to be our friend so bad, anyway!?” Ace voiced the question which had crossed her mind. “After all we did to you!?"

"And you finally followed us all the way here!” she pointed out. If it hadn’t been for him seeing where they hid their treasure, she was sure she could’ve convinced Sabo and her twin to let him stick around.

“Cause there’s nobody else!” Luffy yelled back, tears in his eyes again.

Anne lowered her pipe, resting the capped end on the ground.

“I can't go back to Fuschia Village, and I hate the bandits. If I hadn't followed you..." Luffy sniffled, and wiped his nose on the back of his hand. “I'd be all alone.” his voice dropped almost to a whisper, but it was none the less audible. “And being alone hurts way more than being hurt.”

“What about your parents?” Ace asked. Anne gripped her pipe tighter.

“There’s only Grandpa.” Luffy ducked his head, and wiped at his tears with the palm of his hand.

“It isn't so bad when we’re here?" Anne spoke quietly, hands shaking slightly on her pipe.

"Right" Luffy nodded slightly.

"And it'd be bad if we weren’t here?" Ace’s free hand lifted from his side, and Anne caught it without looking.

"Right.” Luffy nodded again, his teary face resolute.

Her twin’s grip on her hand tightened, and Anne knew he was remembering as well. The countless citizens of Edge Town who’d told them that any children of Roger’s would be demons, the countless times they’d been jeered at and told the world shouldn’t have allowed them to be born. She squeezed back, and they shifted towards each other until their shoulders touched.

“You want us to live?” they asked, and Luffy looked confused for a moment. As if he couldn’t understand why two demons would care for his opinion.

“Of course!” he leaned forward slightly, hands on his knees.

Ace’s deathgrip on her hand loosened, and Anne relaxed her own fingers as well. Not enough to release her twin, but he wasn’t letting go of her either. Even after they’d been so cruel to him, even after they’d let him get tortured by Porchemy, Luffy still thought they should live. That made two people, two boys in all the Blues who thought that even demons like them were deserving of a gift as precious as life.

“I see.” they said after a moment, and their pipes clanked together as they turned their backs on Luffy. It wouldn’t do to let the crybaby see how close they were to tears themselves.

“But still.” Anne shot for an aloof tone, tapping her pipe against her shoulder.

“Spoiled brats like you are the worst.” Ace finished, scratching the back of his head. It was one of her twin’s most obvious tells, but Luffy couldn’t possibly know that yet.

“I’m not spoiled!” Luffy leapt down from the rock and landed just behind them.”I’m strong!”

“Strong?” Ace spun on his heel to face the younger boy. “How’re you strong? Look at you, crying like a little baby!”

“Have you ever been punched with a spiked glove? I’m only 7!”

Anne giggled, blinked back the last of the threatening tears, and turned around to watch her brother snap at Luffy.

“Hey.” Sabo interjected after a minute. “We’ve got another problem, y’know. Or at least, I do.”

“What?” Anne asked. Ace stopped snarling at Luffy, and fixed his eyes on the two blondes.

“After today, Bluejam's crew will be trying to find and kill all four of us, right?”

“Yeah.” Anne nodded once.

“I guess.” Ace crossed his arms.

“I've been living in this forest, but it's close to their base, Pirates' Cove.” Sabo walked forward a few steps, between Ace and Luffy, then a few more steps so they were all looking at his back. “What do you think would happen if I fell asleep somewhere and they attacked me?”

“You’d die.” Anne said, perfectly in time with her brother.

Luffy nodded. “You’d definitely die.”

“Exactly.” Sabo turned around. “Which is why I’ve gotta ask you guys a favour.”

\---

It didn’t take long at all for Sabo to settle in at Dadan’s. Less than a week, really. Life continued on much like it always had, and since they didn’t even have to cross the mountain to see Sabo anymore, the two blondes devised a new way to occupy their time. One hundred fights a day, 33 one-on-one between each of them finished up with an all-out brawl. Luffy never won a single fight, and Anne was proud to note that although Ace and Sabo remained nearly even, her twin was always ever so slightly ahead. Her own records were nothing to brag about, not-quite-evenly matched against either other ten-year-old but never once losing to Luffy, but the spot where Sabo printed the winner of the all-out brawl usually bore her name.

When Sabo finally told them of his family, Anne moved forward while Luffy and her brother stood rooted to the spot. Sabo stiffened when she reached for him, but after a moment relaxed into her hug.

“I’m not mad.” she whispered against his shoulder, and a moment later Luffy loudly declared that an apology was reason enough to forgive their blond friend.

“If you were born a noble, why’d you end up in the dump?” Ace asked, turning away towards the ocean.

Sabo tilted his head down, and Anne seated herself next to him more comfortably. She kept an arm around his waist though, ready to pull him into another hug if he needed it.

“All they wanted was someone to protect their fortune and status. They didn't care about me. If I can't marry a member of the royal family, I'm nothing but trash. So I studied and took lessons, day in and day out. My parents fought over how poorly I did. I was nothing but a hindrance to them. I'm sorry to say this to you, but even though I had a family, I was alone." he glanced up briefly, and Anne followed his gaze to Ace and Luffy’s faces. Luffy looked a bit stunned, like he did after ricocheting between the trees of their fighting ring. Ace, on the other hand, looked perfectly neutral, which meant her twin was probably feeling as much empathy for Sabo’s situation as she was.

"The nobles despise the dump, but it seemed better to me than living a life that had been planned out dozens of years ago in that stifling High Town.” Sabo crossed his arms, and Anne pulled him into a proper hug.

“So that’s what happened.” Ace said quietly. It did explain a few things, like why Sabo could count and read and write so much better than them, and why he’d been wearing such dumb clothes when they first met him. Anne let Sabo go so he could stand, and quickly got to her feet after him.

“Anne, Luffy, Ace.” he looked at each of them in turn, his eyes settling on her twin. “Promise we’ll set sail. That we’ll escape this kingdom and be free! I want to see the world, and write a book about it!” he clenched his hands into fists and brought them up in front of his chest, eyes alight. “Studying navigation won’t be a hardship at all. Let’s all get stronger, and become pirates!”

Ace turned around at that, and his face lit up with a smile wider and brighter than she’d seen in a while. Maybe even ever. “I would do that even if you hadn’t suggested it!” he laughed, and Anne left Sabo’s side to jog over and stand with her twin at the edge of the cliff.

“Why else would we have a pirate fund?” she grabbed his hand, and he gripped back just as hard.

“We’ll be pirates and win and win and win!”

“We’ll be famous!”

“That’s the only way to prove we were alive!”

“No matter how many people reject us or hate us-”

“We’ll be famous pirates and show them all! We won’t run from anyone.”

“We won’t lose to anyone!”

“We’ll never be afraid of anything!”

“The whole world is gonna remember our names!”

Behind them, Luffy laughed. “Oh yeah? All right!” he ran up to the edge of the cliff with them, just a step further than Ace, and brought his hands up to cup around his mouth. “Well I’m gonna be-”

A breaking wave nearly drowned out the end of his declaration, and Anne’s jaw dropped with Sabo’s and Ace’s. “Huh?”

Luffy turned around, laughing a bit, and Anne joined in. It was just such an absurd thought, trying to apply that title to a crybaby like Luffy.

“The things you say.” Ace mumbled, audibly dumbfounded.

“That’s great, Luffy!” Sabo laughed. “I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for you.” he stopped laughing pretty quickly though, and frowned. “But wait, all four of us want to be captain, don’t we?”

“I never thought about that.” Ace mused, shifting the grip he had on his pipe.

“I figured Ace and I would be captain, and you’d be our navigator.” Anne shrugged.

“You can come with on my ship!” Luffy interjected, and all three of them turned to face the youngest boy.

“No way!”

“Why not?!” Luffy started stomping his feet and punching at the air. “Come onboard! Hey, come on! Join me!”

“Nope.” Anne shook her head.

“That’s never gonna happen.” Ace crossed his arms.

“Yeah, no way.” Sabo added.

“What?” Luffy planted both his sandals firmly on the ground and glared at them all, then crossed his arms and huffed. “Well, okay then.”

“What the hell?” Ace frowned, as confused as she was at the runt’s sudden change in attitude.

Sabo just laughed again. “You really are an interesting guy, Luffy!”

Anne shrugged, and Ace elbowed her in the side for her attention. He met her eyes, then jerked his head towards the trees and glanced ever so briefly at a stump somebody had flattened into either a wide stool or low table. She nodded, and left her twin’s side to fetch the things she’d lifted from Dadan’s room last night. Or maybe it had been really early this morning, it wasn’t like they had a clock.

“Well, we can decide our future later.” Ace said as she set the sakazuki cups down and went back for the bottle of sake. “We might end up sailing on separate ships.”

“Oh, did you steal that from Dadan?” Luffy asked, his eyes wide as if he hadn’t seen her do far more impressive things than filch an armful of stuff from a sleeping bandit.

“Have you heard?” Anne spoke up before her twin could respond with the inevitable praise of her stealth. “If you exchange sakazuki cups, you become brothers.”

“Brothers? Really?” Luffy looked down at the cups, now full of sake, then back at her. “But wouldn’t you be our sister?”

“Same difference.” she shrugged.

“When we become pirates, we may not be crewmates on the same ship, but this will bind us together as siblings!” Ace handed her the cork back, and she tapped it into place firmly. “No matter where we go or what we do, nothing can break this bond.”

Anne set down the bottle at the foot of the stump, and picked up her cup carefully. Her twin did the same, and the other two boys followed suite.

“With this, starting today, you’re our brothers.” Anne said the words in time with her twin, and the other boys wore nearly identical beaming smiles as they lifted their cups to clack the four cups together.

“Siblings.” they chorused, and Anne smiled so wide her cheeks hurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a note, in this AU the ASL flag reads A2SL.


	2. Pirates

Anne tucked the note into Ace’s hand, and her chest tightened when he clutched at her fingers. It hurt to leave like this, sneaking away in the middle of the night. They were twins, two parts of a whole. He had been her whole world for so long, she only knew how to _be_ when he was at her side. But he wasn’t her only brother now. Now they had Luffy to look after, and Sabo to help them do it. But Sabo had been kidnapped, taken from them, and no matter what he said Anne was going to go get him back.

The forest was familiar, even in the night, and she wove her way through the massive trunks as quickly as she dared. She sped up slightly when she reached the Grey Terminal, but only slightly. Trash shifted under her feet, and she moved as fast as she could without stabbing herself through the well-worn soles of her shoes. It wasn’t hard to find some clothes on the way which had been thrown out, a gaudy sparkly costume still in its plastic packaging, and she changed quickly in a divot at the top of a heap. There were even ties to put her dirty blonde hair up with, and she paused a few heaps away from the gate to look herself over in a dirty puddle which smelled like it was partly piss partly booze. Some tears, a bit of sobbing, and she should be able to pass herself off as an adventurous Edge Town kid who’d gotten lost. She sniffled, and tears came to her eyes easily. For all they made fun of Luffy being a crybaby, it was really useful for fooling grown-ups.

She made her breath hitch in a sob a few times, until she was close to actually crying for real, and then started stumbling towards the gate. The guards lowered their weapons when they saw her, and a few wails about mean men and wanting her mommy got her into the city faster than a fake ID ever had. She nodded when they asked if she knew her way home, and once the gate shut behind her she took a few turns until she found herself in a mostly empty alley. The costume she stuffed into a dumpster, and when the sky brightened to blue she found herself near the inner gates of the city. The ones which locked normal people out of High Town.

She couldn’t risk getting caught at those gates, because as soon as anybody looked too hard her story would fall apart and she’d be thrown back out into the Grey Terminal. She couldn’t afford that, not when she had a brother to rescue, but she couldn’t just loiter around Edge Town either. Anne spent most of the day circling High Town, looking up at the smooth stone, searching for a spot where she’d be able to scale the wall. She couldn’t find one. All around the plateu, the walls had been smoothed free of any potential handholds until well above the tops of the tallest buildings.

Night fell before she finished circling the plateu, and Anne’s nose twitched at the smell of smoke. Was somebody having a bonfire? She glanced up, and her heart dropped into her stomach. The Grey Terminal was burning. Smoke rose in a thick curtain, illuminated bright as day by flames, and she took a few shaky steps away from the curved street she’d been on for most of the day. The Grey Terminal was on fire. The Grey Terminal was burning. _Ace and Luffy were in the Grey Terminal_.

The thought struck terror in her more fierce than she’d ever known, and she ran. Portgas D. Anne prided herself on her stealth and her surefootedness, her ability to move silently over the most unstable of surfaces as fast as her brothers could move over the solid ground. She prided herself on those things, but in the few dozen blocks between the High Town plateu and the gates of the Grey Terminal, she tripped five times. Every time she scrambled back up, palms and knees stinging, and three blocks from the gate a solid body barrelled into her. Anne staggered to her feet, cursing under her breath, and found herself looking into blue eyes nearly as familiar as those of her own twin.

“Sabo!”

“The nobles.” he was on his feet in a flash, then dragging her down the street again towards the gate. “The nobles are burning the Grey Terminal.”

“Ace.” she gasped, her heart hammering even faster in her chest. “Ace is there. Luffy too.”

“Hey!” Sabo raised his voice, and they skidded to a stop in front of the guards. “You have to let us out!”

“What?”

“Our brothers are out there!” Anne added, squeezing Sabo’s hand tight.

“Get out of here.” the masked guard ordered. Sabo swung his pipe at the adult’s arm, and Anne sorely regretted having left her own back in the treehouse. While the guards converged on Sabo, though, she ducked through them and ran for the massive spoked wheel which looked like it would open the doors. She’d just gotten a grip on it when big grown-up hands in thick gloves closed around her arms and pulled her away.

“Sabo!” she yelled, kicking wildly. If only she’d brought her pipe. If only her knife hadn’t broken when Bluejam’s thugs beat them up yesterday. If only, if only, if only.

“Anne!” there was a cry of pain from one of the adults, then a flash of dull metal and a loud thud, and she had her brother at her back. “You okay?”

“Keep them busy, I’ll open the gates.” she spat in response, punching one guy in the junk and ducking around him back towards the control wheel.

She’d managed to budge it just slightly when something struck her throat, and suddenly she couldn’t breathe. Her hands flew to her neck, but not fast enough to stop the adult who’d struck her with Sabo’s pipe from grabbing her there. She flew through the air and hit the cobbled street hard just a few feet beyond Sabo, his pipe clattering much closer to his side. Her brother was struggling to his hands and knees, and her own limbs felt weak as she did the same. A cloaked figure stood over him, and Anne staggered to her feet.

“What’s the matter, boy?”

Sabo latched onto the hem of the man’s cloak, and his voice shook but Anne had never heard him so angry in her life. Not even the time Luffy had found and eaten the younger blond’s secret candy stash. “Mister... the king and nobles... are the ones behind the fire!” he gasped the words out, and Anne managed to stagger over and collapse at his side.

“You’ve gotta believe me!” he looked up, and Anne gripped the man’s cloak as well when he knelt down. Her throat hurt so much just to breathe, and when she tried to speak no sound came out.

“This town stinks worse than trash!” Sabo’s voice was firmer now, but no more steady. “It’s the smell of people who are rotten to the core! I can-” he sobbed. “I can never be free here!” her brother lifted his head again, tears streaming down his cheeks, and Anne’s chest hurt almost as much as her throat.

“I’m ashamed to have been born a noble!”

Anne released the man’s cloak, and leaned over to wrap her arms around Sabo instead. She’d come here to bring her brother home, and she knew that Ace was still alive. She couldn’t have explained how even if her voice was working, but she knew. And if Ace was alive, then so was Luffy. Her twin would protect their baby brother with his life if it came to that, though she really hoped it wouldn’t.

“I understand. I, too, was born in this country. However, I still do not have the power to change it.”

“Mister, you-” Sabo relaxed minutely, but continued to cling to the man’s cloak. “You’re actually listening to what I have to say?”

“Indeed, and I shall never forget it.”

Sabo slumped after hearing that, and Anne struggled to pull him more upright so she could support his weight better. The man helped, and gave her a considering look as she made sure Sabo was still breathing.

“He is your brother?”

Anne nodded. Her throat was still killing her, and she really didn’t feel like trying to speak until it stopped hurting quite so much. Her nod seemed to satisfy the stranger though, because he patted her head gently before standing.

“Take care of each other.” he said quietly. “Do not let this country consume you.”

She nodded again, and looked down at Sabo. When she looked up, the man was gone. It took far too long for her limbs to regain enough strength to drag Sabo into an alley, but thankfully they were tucked safe between two dumpsters when a group of Edge City soldiers marched by. The air stank of smoke. Anne didn’t get a wink of sleep that night.

Come morning, she had to shake her brother awake so they could move before anybody saw them. They managed to blend in with the crowd once there was a crowd to blend in with, and Anne didn’t let Sabo’s hand out of hers once. She picked some pockets as they wandered, and after a few blocks came up with a few thousand beri. Enough for breakfast at a little hole-in-the-wall cafe.

The menu was scrawled on a board behind the counter, pictures tacked up next to each item for those customers who couldn’t read, and she let Sabo order to spare her throat. It didn’t hurt as much to speak anymore, but if the bruise on her neck was anything like the bruises she’d gotten just about everywhere else on her body then it’d continue to hurt for a while. She could deal with being quiet for a day or two if that was all it cost to get her brother back. Breakfast took up most of their money, and Anne was only a tad bitter about having to actually pay for their food.

Sabo ate quickly, but not as fast as they all usually did when they had to keep Luffy from stealing the meat out of their hands. Anne ate as slow as she could bear, and took sips of her tea between bites. The warm food and drink soothed her throat, if only slightly, and she gave Sabo a grateful smile. He was folding a bit of paper into an envelope, and Anne watched between bites of food as he wrote a note on the back of the receipt.

They left the restaurant, and headed for the gate to the Grey Terminal. Anne yanked Sabo down a side street before they got too close though, and he didn’t complain. He’d seen the crowd too, a whole swarm of men in the same sort of suits the guards last night had been wearing.

“What do we do now?” he asked in a breathless whisper.

Anne glared at him. “How should I know?” she croaked, wincing as soon as the last word was out. That had hurt way worse than she expected.

“Well you’re the one who came in here.” Sabo frowned. “I figured you’d have a plan to get out.”

Anne opened her mouth in a silent “uuugh”, then glared at her brother and gestured towards the gate. He narrowed his eyes for a minute, then cocked his head slightly to the side.

“You were going to just walk out the gate with a kidnapped nobleman’s son?”

Anne scowled at him, and he chuckled.

“Alright.” he moved closer to the main street, and they peeked through the milling crowd to look at the teams scraping mounds of ash away from the gate. “You’re faster than me, so you can get out the gate right now.” he pulled the makeshift envelope from his pocket, and Anne realized he’d written ‘To my siblings’ on the front. She accepted the folded paper, and cocked her head at him in silent confusion. He looked back blankly, and she swallowed before speaking.

“I’m not leaving you.” she gripped his hand tighter, and resolutely didn’t wince at the pain of speaking. “You’re coming home with me.”

“Anne, you heard what I told that man last night. I can’t stay here in this country for another day. That letter will explain everything, but you have to bring it to Ace and Luffy so they’ll understand too.”

“No.” Anne shook her head violently, and shoved the envelope against his chest. He actually stumbled back from the force of it, his pipe clattering to the ground as his back hit the wall of the alley. “We’ll deliver it together.”

“If I go back there, I’ll-” Sabo sucked in a deep breath, and clapped his free hand over the one she’d slammed into his chest. “I’m setting sail today, Anne. You can’t stop me.”

It was certainly true that she wasn’t a match for any of her brothers but Luffy in a one on one fight, but that didn’t mean anything. “I’ll go with you.” she lifted her chin, despite how it made the bruise on her neck scream. “I’ll be your vice-captain.” the words hurt to say, her pride stinging almost as much as last night’s injury at having to offer to be anything less than his co-captain.

Of course, it wasn’t too late to simply accept his terms and take the letter home to their brothers, but she didn’t want to do that. It had been so lonely with only Ace at her side, the whole world against them. And then her stupid twin had brought Sabo into their life, and everything had gotten better. Sabo and her twin looked at Luffy like he was made of living sunshine rather than rubber, but for Anne it was her blond brother who lit the world with his smile. Ace would understand why she’d had to go.

Ace was her twin, they were one soul in two bodies. He knew her better than she knew herself, and she understood why he did things before he did. She could practically see the look on his face when he got the letter. He’d be frustrated that she left without him, upset at losing his co-captain to their highborn brother’s crew, but he would understand why she’d gone.

Sabo gaped at her for a solid four seconds before he managed to close his mouth, and even then it took him a few tries to form any coherent words. “Fine.” he sighed, taking the folded paper envelope from her hand. “Let’s find a post office. We’ll need a real envelope if we’re gonna send this by mail.”

Anne beamed, and loosened her death grip on his hand. It didn’t even take an hour to pen a new letter and get an envelope to ship it in, though it did take the rest of their money. Anne looked over their handiwork as Sabo carefully filled out the address on the envelope, a much neater one than his folded paper mess.

_Ace and Luffy, you weren't injured in the fire were you? I'm worried, but we have faith in you. I'm sorry, but by the time you get this letter, we’ll be at sea. So much has happened, so I'm setting sail before you, and Anne is coming along. Our destination is anywhere other than this kingdom. We'll get stronger, and become pirates. And when we’re pirates, we'll be free, and someday, somewhere on the wide, free sea, we four will meet again. I promise!_

_Ace, I know you’re probably reading this out for Luffy, but this is just for you. I’m sorry I can’t tell you this in person, but I’ve decided to be Sabo’s vice-captain. You know how he is with money, I can’t just let him go off all alone. But I know you’ll find me again when you set sail. You always do. But I guess this is it for the Portgas brats, at least for a while. I’m gonna give Sabo the pen back now._

She smiled, and flipped the sheet over to read her brother’s last words on the back.

_By the way, Ace, I wonder which of us is the eldest. It’s strange, having three eldest children and one youngest, but this bond is my greatest treasure. Luffy is still a weakling and a crybaby, but he’s our little brother. Take care of him._

The temptation to steal the pen and add a “PS: I’m the eldest since I’m tallest” was pretty strong, but Anne managed to resist it. Sabo set the pen down, and carefully folded their note into the envelope. It was addressed ‘to our brothers on Mt. Corvo’ and Sabo had signed his name after a little dash.

“I wanna sign it too.” Anne said, snatching the pen and holding out her hand for the envelope. Sabo sighed, and passed it over. She made a dash under his, and scratched her given name onto the paper. Nodding once, she handed back the pen and post-ready letter. The man behind the counter nodded, and assured them that it would be sent out by tomorrow at the latest. Sabo slipped his hand into hers, and she let him lead the way to a pier in a nicer part of Edge Town. The main port with the harbormaster’s office and everything was nearby, and the noise coming from there gave her a pretty good idea why there was nobody keeping an eye on these ships.

Sabo picked out a nice sized fishing boat, and Anne found some paint and nice dark cloth in a shed. They weren’t interrupted as they painted a blue S and yellow A over white crossed bones, and Anne untied their chosen ship as Sabo shimmied up the mast to tie their pirate flag to the top. She felt a bit bad about just _taking_ the boat, but they were setting out to sea to be pirates. Stealing a ship was actually a pretty good jump start on the whole “pillage and plunder” deal.

The docks were absolutely packed, but Sabo maneuvered the ship as though he’d been born to do it. Anne fiddled with the ropes until she figured out which ones were for adjusting the sails, and then she dropped them open as evenly as she could. The wind caught, and Sabo gave her a high five before turning to let it carry them out to sea. The smooth white walls of the harbor’s entrance towered over them, but soon they were far enough out that it no longer looked so imposing.

“The weather’s great.” Sabo grinned, wind whipping his ratty scarf-thing around. “This is a perfect day for setting sail.”

Anne snorted. He’d probably say the same even if it were storming, but her throat hurt too much to voice the thought.

“You there!” a voice called from the mass of people at the harbor, drawing attention to the fact that the crowd noise had gone completely silent. “Turn back, now!”

Sabo released the wheel, and Anne moved forward to hold it steady as her brother turned to glare back at the island. “The thing I’m most afraid of, is being consumed by this country, and becoming a completely different person.” he turned around again, and Anne relinquished the helm to her captain and navigator. “We’re never turning back.” he said almost to himself. The mist thinned a bit as they got further away from the shore, and Anne noticed the incoming boat just seconds before her brother did.

“What a huge ship.” he marvelled, tugging his hat down more firmly on his head to keep it from blowing away. “It’d be really bad if we crashed into it. Let’s just move aside.” he gripped the steering wheel, and the ship turned as he spun it. The bow wave of the incoming vessel was huge, probably as tall as she was, and its wake made their little fishing boat rock side to side.

“How cool would it be if we got a ship like that someday, Anne?” Sabo smiled at her, bright as the sun shining off the waves, and she gave him two thumbs up along with a huge grin. And then, just when everything seemed right with the world, there was a sound like thunder and back of their ship exploded. By the time she’d turned around, half the cabin had collapsed and everything astern of the rear mast was on fire. Sabo swore, and pulled off his coat to beat the flames down with. Anne yanked off her shirt, forgoing propriety in the name of survival, and joined him in his efforts.

“Damn it!” he coughed, struggling to subdue a patch of fire around a hole in the deck which hadn’t been there a minute ago. “Why’d they suddenly fire on us?”

Anne beat harder, and just when they were starting to make progress there was a tremendous **BANG** from the massive ship alongside theirs. Sabo turned, and she heard his stunned gasp only a heartbeat before something tore across her back. She screamed, and collapsed into the hole the first shot had left in the deck. Her leg. Her leg hurt even worse than her throat. Her leg hurt and the seawater was only making it worse and Sabo was slumped over her moaning and _their ship was sinking_.

Anne bit down on a scream, and forced herself to her feet. Pain screeched across her lower back and down her leg, and she whimpered. The left half of her brother’s face and chest was a bloody mess, but tears were still leaking from his eyes so he was probably alive. No, he _had_ to be alive. She wasn’t going to die here, and neither was he. Salty water lapped at the back of her knees, rising rapidly, and she pulled Sabo up with an arm over her shoulder. Some stairs lead up into the smoky remains of the cabin, and Anne fought back tears as she hauled her brother out onto the burning deck. The foremast had snapped in two, and it was floating in the water with half their flag still affixed to the end.

It would have to do. The boat was listing badly, and waves were already starting to lap over the edge of the deck on the lower side. Anne staggered down the slope, and threw herself out towards the floating bit of wreckage. The water sent her lower back and left leg into screaming burning agony, and for one long moment every muscle in her body locked up. Then the water closed over her head, and all her pain seemed to fade away as instinct kicked in. It involved a good deal of flailing and gasping, but she managed to drape Sabo halfway over the fat end of the mast and lock her arms around the wood. She struggled to remain alert, but after a while even the waves slapping her face were little more than numbing. Slowly, inexorably, the world faded to black.


	3. Twins

The girl woke with a hacking cough, her head throbbing. She reached out, and when her hand closed on empty sheets her heart leapt fearfully in her chest. There was supposed to be somebody there, somebody whose hand fit perfectly in hers. She sat up, and the world spun but she registered her surroundings quickly. The room was full of strange grown-ups, and the strangest one was leaning over a boy about her size. The strange man’s fingers suddenly turned into needles, and she was on her feet before she could register the pain of injuries or the stiffness of bandages over them.

“Don’t touch him!” she shouted, and her voice was too deep and rough but that wasn’t anywhere nearly as important as protecting her brother. She threw her arms out, and the stranger’s needle-fingers halted just before sinking into her chest.

“You shouldn’t be awake.” he frowned, the needles changing into normal fingers. “Ah, you’ve ripped out your IV!” he gripped her arm, and the girl’s knees gave out abruptly. Everything hurt, but especially her back and leg and throat. The strange man scooped her up, and she squirmed in his grip.

“No!” her voice rasped, and he stopped mid-step.

“What is it?”

“Can I-” she winced, and brought a hand up to her throat. Speaking wasn’t supposed to hurt this much, was it?

“Oh, you shouldn’t be speaking at all.” the man fretted, and gestured for the attention of one of the other adults. “Bring me a pen and some paper.”

The girl let the strange man set her back on the bed she’d woken up in, and didn’t make a sound as a needle was stuck in her arm. A piece of paper was set on her knees just after, and she gripped the pen tight when it was given to her.

“Your voice is hurt.” the weird man explained. “So you should not speak. Can you write?”

She nodded, and her hands only shook a little as she wrote down the words she’d been trying to get out earlier. _Can I stay next to him?_ She held up the paper, and pointed at her brother halfway across the room.

“Of course.” the strange man smiled. “I’m going to be giving your brother a dose of Oxcycotin and hCG, so he’s not in as much pain. Then it’s your turn.”

The girl nodded, and watched silently as the weird man turned his fingers into needles again and stuck one into the IV bag hanging by her brother’s bed. His face relaxed slightly, and she slumped back against the barred headboard of her bed as some people in white coats wheeled it closer to her brother’s. She still couldn’t reach out and touch him, but now she could hear his breathing. The weird man stuck his needle finger into her IV bag as well, and the girl smiled as the pain began to fade.

“Is zat all you needed me for, doctor?” he asked a woman in a white coat. The lady nodded, and he sat down on the end of the girl’s bed. “Zen I will ask zis girl a few questions.”

She shrank down under the covers as his gaze turned on her, and wished her brother was close enough to reach over and grab his hand.

“What is ze last thing you remember before you woke up here?”

She looked down at her knees, and racked her brains. Her head hurt terribly, and the harder she tried to remember the worse it got. She clutched her hands to her skull, and whimpered. Hadn’t the weirdo said the stuff in her IV was supposed to make things hurt less? Why did her head hurt so much, and what was that noise? Screaming, she realized after a minute. Somebody was screaming. She wished they’d stop, it was only making her head hurt more.

How had they gotten here? Where _was_ here? Why didn’t she know her own brother’s name? Why didn’t she know her _own_ name? Who was she?

The questions bounced around inside her pounding head, and the screaming just kept getting louder. She wanted to find whoever was making that noise and yell at them to shut up, but her hands were locked on her head and her legs were stiff with bandages and her mouth was locked open in- oh. She was the one screaming. The noise suddenly stopped, and she shut her mouth sheepishly. Her throat hurt, and she moved her hands down to press on the bandages. It was bruised, but she couldn’t remember how she’d gotten that bruise or even how she knew what a bruise felt like.

“Ivankov, she needs to rest.” an unfamiliar voice said, and the girl lifted her head to see a man in a white coat. Another doctor. “If you could put her under?”

“Of course.” the weird guy, Ivankov, answered. He stood, and moments after he stuck a needle-finger into her IV bag she felt sleep pulling at her.

\---

She half woke, and reached towards the heat at her side. Her hand found another hand, and she gripped it tightly before drifting back to sleep.

When the girl woke again, her brother was squinting at her blearily. It was an expression as familiar as breathing, marred only by the bandages covering half his face, and she smiled. “Morning.” she mumbled, squeezing his hand. She couldn’t remember twining their fingers together, but when he squeezed back she didn’t care.

“Ah, you’re awake!” a lady in a white coat exclaimed, hurrying over to sit at the foot of their bed. “My name is Dayo Ofra, I’m your attending physician.” she brushed her hair back, and picked up two clipboards which had been hanging from the foot of the bed. “How are you two feeling?”

“My head hurts.” her brother said immediately, his tone bordering on a whine. He sat up, and she moved with him..

The girl opened her mouth to reply that her bandages itched, but the doctor held up a hand. “Sorry, I’m under orders from the vice-captain not to let you speak.” the woman turned one of the clipboards around, and the girl accepted it along with a pen. “You can write your replies on there.”

She frowned, but scrawled her reply and held it up for the doctor to read. The woman chuckled, and gave her a pat on the head. “I’m afraid there’s not much we can do for that. As for your head, could you point out where it hurts?”

He gestured around the sides and back of his head, and the doctor made a note. The girl frowned, and began writing. She had to hit the doctor’s elbow to get her attention, but once the lady’s eyes were on her the message was quickly read.

“You have a headache as well?”

The girl nodded, and the doctor straightened up. “In that case, I think it’d be best if you both laid down for a bit. I’ll be right back.” the woman waited until they’d laid down to turn and walk away. The girl turned on her side, and the boy reached out to grip her hand again.

“Where are we?” he asked in a small voice.

The girl shrugged, then fumbled for the pen and clipboard and printed her answer in slow careful letters she couldn’t remember ever learning. _On a boat. We’re safe._

The boy seemed satisfied by this, and she gripped her brother’s hand back. There were so many things she didn’t know, but also so many she did. This boy was her brother, crass and exasperating and the person she trusted most in all the blues. She didn’t know his name, or her own, but she knew that she would protect him with her life should it come to that.

\---

“Their condition is, quite peculiar.” Doctor Dayo said, addressing the small crowd which had gathered around the bed the siblings shared. “Both children are suffering from severe retrograde amnesia, likely brought on by the attack which sunk their ship.”

The girl scooted slightly closer to her brother, and he gripped her hand almost tight enough to hurt. She didn’t know what some of the doctor’s words meant, but from the atmosphere in the room she knew it wasn’t good.

“You mean, their memories won’t return?” Ivankov blurted, distress clearly visible on his oversized face.

“Yes.” Doctor Dayo nodded once. “They don’t even remember their own names.”

“Here.” a man in a top hat held up two singed pairs of pants. “There’s the names Sabo and Anne on these. Are those your names?”

“Hell if I know.” her brother frowned.

The girl shrugged, then scratched a few words on the notepad she’d been given and tilted it for her brother to read. _I wanna be Sabo._

He stuck out his tongue at her. “No way. I’m bigger than you, so I get to choose first.”

Now that was just about as dumb a reason as she’d ever heard. The girl pulled back to punch him in the bandaged side of his head, but that sent a rip of pain up from her lower back and her arm fell to lie on the sheets again.

“They’re part of a family from the Goa kingdom, I’m sure of that.” the man with the scariest face in the room spoke for the first time, and the children leaned close together again.

“Well, then.” another man in a dark cloak smiled slightly. “We should send them back. I’ll find their parents and-”

“No!” the boy yelled suddenly, making the girl jump a bit at his side. “I don't want to go back! Just take me away with you! Somewhere, anywhere!”

The girl gripped his arm, and nodded her agreement. She didn’t remember their parents, but if her brother didn’t want to go back home then they must be bad people.

“Fine.” the man with the tattooed face looked at Doctor Dayo. “Make sure they heal properly. Keep me updated.” he turned and left then, and most of the rest of the crowd filed out after him. After a few minutes, they were left with only Doctor Dayo, and the girl thought it was high time to remind her brother of the subject of their names..

“Anne is a girl’s name.” the boy said imperiously when the girl held up her notepad again. “So that means you have to be Anne, and I have to be Sabo.”

The girl crossed her arms and scowled, then uncrossed them to write another sentence on her paper. _I said I wanted to be called Sabo first._

Doctor Dayo chuckled, and placed the two pairs of pants on their bed. “Since these _are_ your clothes, would you mind if we assume these are your names?”

The girl frowned for a moment, then nodded and held out her hands. She was given the pair of pants which said Anne, and her brother was given the ones which read Sabo. The names were written in the same handwriting, and she wondered if it had been their mother who inked them onto the cloth.

“Okay, but I’m Sabo and she’s Anne.” her brother said petulantly.

“Well, yes.” Doctor Dayo smiled. “I gave you back your own clothes, after all.”

Anne scrawled a few words on her notepad, and handed it over for Sabo to read. _Fuck you I still wanna be Sabo_.

Her brother laughed, and she rolled her eyes when he slung an arm around her shoulders. Fine, she could live with being Anne.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I looked up “pain killing hormones” to figure out how Ivankov could help, and found [this page](%E2%80%9Cwww.webmd.com/pain-management/news/20140308/hormones-might-offer-relief-from-chronic-pain-small-study-suggests%E2%80%9D). And one of the benefits reported by patients treated with Oxycotin and hCG was **increased will to live**. Isn’t the world just so amazing sometimes?
> 
> Note: if the link goes to a 404 page, delete everything before _webmd_. AO3 hates linking outside of itself, and I have no clue why  >:/


	4. Memories

"The latest newspaper issues about the War of the Greatest are hot off the presses!” Dror Trygve yelled, running into the room and dumping an armful of said newspapers on the nearest table. “There's even an article about Whitebeard's defeat!" he picked up a paper and opened it. Anne turned to watch.

"Is Ivankov okay?" Biago Nona asked worriedly. She’d been halfway through her initiatory month when the Horu Horu No Mi user was caught by Marines, and as such was still waiting for the okama to return and change her back.

"He isn't listed among the fatalities.” Dror reassured her. “Those of note who passed away are the Yonku Whitebeard, and Fire Fist Ace!" _that_ got people’s attention. Sabo even walked over and picked up one of the papers.

"More importantly," Dror held up his own open paper and jabbed his index finger at a line of type too small to read from halfway across the room. "Look at this! Dragon, is this true? Are you really Straw Hat Luffy's father?"

"Hm?” Dragon lifted his head briefly, took one look at the paper Dror was pointing at accusingly, then went back to work. “Oh, yeah."

"Whaaat!? You gotta be shittin' me!" Dror threw his hands in the air, newspaper falling to the ground and scattering a bit. But Anne’s attention wasn’t on her dramatic coworker anymore. Sabo was shaking, his hands planted on either side of the paper he’d picked up earlier and apparently unfurled on the table. His breathing had gotten heavier as well, and she started to move across the room to stand at her twin’s side.

“Hey, Sabo, what’s wrong? You’re acting weirder than usual.” Koala had obviously noticed as well, and while Anne would’ve laughed at the casual jab most days she was genuinely worried for her twin at the moment. He was _crying_ over the paper, and his nose was running onto it as well.

“Sabo?” Anne laid a hand on his shoulder, and he collapsed to his knees with the sort of agonized howl she’d only heard on battlefields. She followed him down, chest tightening, and gripped his shoulders. “Sabo!” people had clustered around her, but she only barely noticed when Koala crouched on Sabo’s other side and picked up the newspaper he’d dropped. “Sabo, what’s wrong?!” she leaned him against her shoulder as he went limp, and when his eyes rolled back she pressed her fingers to his neck to feel for a pulse.

It was there, thank the gods, and she looked up to see the whole room had gathered around them. She gathered her twin close to her chest for a moment, then let Hack take him. People were talking but it was all background noise, like somebody had dropped a curtain between her and the rest of the world. She vaguely noticed when they entered the infirmary, and one of Doctor Dayo’s words filtered through her laser focus on Sabo.

_Amnesia._

Anne sat down heavily on the foot of her twin’s bed, and gripped his hand as an IV was stuck in his arm. He didn’t squeeze back, and it took a moment for her to realize that Koala was calling her name. Why was her friend so far away? Anne turned her head, and it was like the world suddenly snapped back into focus. Koala was standing right there, a hand on her shoulder and the other one offering the tear-stained paper Sabo had been reading before he collapsed.

“Anne, hey. Is there anything on here which could’ve made him collapse like that?”

She took the paper with her free hand, and gave it a cursory glance. Most of the page was taken up by a large photo, and Anne felt a stabbing pain in her head as her eyes caught on it. Gol D. Ace, the son of the pirate king, the one who’d been run through by Akainu. It was almost like looking in a mirror, and her mouth twisted to match his cocky smirk even as her eyes watered.

“Ace.” her voice hitched, and she tightened her hold on the damp paper. “He- he hated that name.” she chuckled, and wished Sabo were awake to hold her hand as tightly as she was holding his. “We took mom’s, we hated our dad so-” a sob made her shoulders shake. “So fucking much.”

Koala and Dayo’s faces were masks of shock and disbelief, and Anne couldn’t see Hack but she just knew his expression was the same. She dropped the newspaper so it wouldn’t crease in her grip, then brought a hand up to wipe at her tears. Her head was aching, but she couldn’t shy away from the memories flooding back. His smile, his laugh, his hand which fit so perfectly in her own whenever they were worried or afraid. Their shared mat and blanket in the back room of Dadan’s house, their matching lead pipes, the meals they hunted and ate together. The countless times they’d tried to kill Sabo, then later Luffy. They’d been inseparable, two parts of a whole, and she’d _forgotten_ him. Forgotten the New Year’s Day birthdays they shared, forgotten their promises and jokes, forgotten their entire childhood on Mount Corvo.

“A- Ace was-” Anne’s whole body was shaking now with the force of her sobs, and she wiped her nose on her sleeve. “Ace was my twin brother.” she gasped, and Sabo was going to wake with a bruised hand if not broken bones but she _needed_ him right now. He wasn’t her twin but he was still her brother, the first one who’d cared about her besides Ace, and goddammit why wasn’t he awake when she needed him most?

“You’ve regained your memories as well?” Doctor Dayo asked, her tone level and professional.

Anne nodded. She was still sobbing, but the harshness of it had rendered her silent once again. She wanted to scream, to rage, to grieve the twin she’d forgotten she had, but years of visits with Doctor Dayo had drilled it into her head that once her voice went, she had to shut up or risk making herself mute for life.

“Now that you remember...” Koala’s voice was unusually quiet, and she moved to sit next to Anne on the edge of Sabo’s infirmary bed. “Are you gonna quit the revolutionary army?”

Anne thought for a moment. Ace was- no, that was the wrong tense now, and the realisation hurt almost as much as her still-mounting headache. Ace _had been_ her twin, and there was no doubt that she’d be able to find people in the New World willing to point her to Whitebeard’s remaining crew, but she’d forgotten about that promise to become a pirate ten years ago. It didn’t feel right, to try to take her twin’s place in the family he’d found in her absence. She shook her head, and held out a hand for pen and paper. Doctor Dayo didn’t disappoint, and Anne wrote her answer quickly before showing it to both Anne and Hack. _I’m staying right here._

Koala beamed, and threw her arms around Anne. “I knew I could count on you!”

Hack simply nodded, and said something about informing Dragon of the situation before leaving the room. Doctor Dayo had the girls move Sabo to a larger bed not long after, and with pen and paper taken away Anne couldn’t protest much beyond dirty looks and rude gestures when she was instructed to lie down at his side. She swallowed the medicine she was given between silent sobs, and sleep took her before her tears ran dry.

\---

Burning. She was burning _how was that possible_ flames eating her from the inside out. She strained to move, to pull away from the searing pain _why did it hurt fire couldn’t be hurt_ but she couldn’t. The pain lessened, then vanished entirely, but there was no relief. It was replaced by a cold emptiness, a creeping awareness that death was fast approaching, and she smiled. _Can’t die, promised not to die, not like this, not in front of him._ Luffy’s eyes were wide, horrified, and her legs gave out. He caught her before she could hit the ground, and for the first time ever he was the warm one. _Since when is rubber hotter than fire?_

“Y’know, if it weren’t for Sabo, and having a high maintenance little brother like you, we wouldn’t even have wanted to live.” each breath ached, and she vaguely knew that it was because of the chilling numbness still spreading out from her core. “Nobody else wanted us to, after all, so it’s only natural.” Luffy’s hand was warm on her back, so warm, but only barely there through the numbing haze. “My one regret, is I won’t live to see you achieve your dream.” she chuckled, and blood dribbled from her lips. “But I know you, you’ll pull it off for sure. You’re my little brother, after all. Just like we promised back then, I have no regrets about how I lived my life.”

"No! You're lying!" Luffy’s voice was desperate, and ever so slightly distant.

“No, it's true." she gasped. The cold numbness had spread almost entirely through her body, reducing her breaths to shallow panting things. "It looks like what I really wanted in the end, wasn't fame or reknown at all.” she managed to lift an arm and grip at Luffy shoulder. “It was an answer to the question of whether we should have been born.” her voice had dropped to a whisper, and she couldn’t raise it but that was fine, Luffy would tell the others. “Even though we've been good for nothing our whole life.” she had to struggle for each breath, barely clinging to consciousness, but this was important. This was far too important to leave unspoken. “Even though we carry the blood of a demon in our veins,” tears were carving down her face, mixing with blood and snot and probably staining Luffy’s vest awfully. “Thank you, for loving me!”

Anne tried to reach out as her twin fell sideways, but her arms were so heavy. Ace slumped to the ground, a faint smile on his face, and her knees buckled. “Ace?” she reached towards him, and his skin was as cold as the hole in her chest somewhere next to her heart. This was why she’d felt so odd the past few days, why she’d woken up crying, why Sabo had collapsed when he saw the paper. Her twin, their brother, was dead.

Luffy was screaming, head thrown back and his face a picture of tear-streaked agony. Anne knew her own expression probably matched, but when she opened her mouth what came out was half a wail of pain and half a roar of unspeakable _fury_. They had taken Ace from her, taken away the twin brother she’d loved so dearly, and for that she would **destroy** them.

A hand gripped her shoulder, and Anne lashed out reflexively before she’d even fully woken up. A whole string of curses were ready on her tongue, insults fit for the ones who had killed her twin, but then her eyes focused on the man who had caught her armoured fist and all thoughts of anger fled her mind. Dragon was standing over her bed, his face unreadable, and Anne hurried sat up. He released her fist when she released her armament haki, and she folded her hands in her lap before bowing to him.

“Sorry.”

“As soon as Dr. Dayo discharges you, I expect to see you in my office.”

“Yes, sir.” Anne nodded her head once, and glanced around the room once he’d left. The sun hadn’t even set yet, so she’d only been out for a few hours. And yet, Koala Hack and Doctor Dayo seemed to be sound asleep. On the floor, no less. It gave Anne chills, and she reached out to shake the doctor’s shoulder. Dayo groaned, so at least she wasn’t dead, but everyone being unconscious was incredibly unnerving.

Koala woke up first, followed closely by Hack, but Dayo didn’t regain consciousness until the sun was well and truly set. None of them could explain why they’d collapsed, except that she’d started screaming and thrashing in her sleep. Koala and Hack had been moving to restrain her while Dayo got a sedative, but they’d obviously collapsed before that happened.

Doctor Dayo, thankfully, gave her the all clear to leave as soon as she confirmed there was nothing physically wrong with any of them. Anne hurried through the halls, which were unnervingly quiet, and stopped in front of Dragon’s door. He probably wanted to know what she’d remembered, if she had any idea as to why Sabo had collapsed and she hadn’t, stuff like that. Hopefully they’d all be questions she could answer.

\---

Anne sat in a chair at Sabo’s bedside, and gripped his hand tight. His fever had finally broken, but three days was a long time to spend unconscious. She needed him awake, needed somebody who wouldn’t give her a pitying look when she started to cry without realizing it, needed to know that she still had somebody to help her take care of Luffy. She needed her brother, her best friend, her stupid sunshine boy. Sabo opened his eyes, and Anne nearly collapsed on his bed. Sabo met her halfway for a hug, and the strength of his grip on her shoulders spoke volumes.

“Anne.” he pulled away, and she lifted a hand to wipe the tears from her eyes. “If it’s alright with you, I’d like to have the Mera Mera No Mi.”

The request actually caught her off guard. She hadn’t even considered that Ace’s devil fruit must have respawned somewhere in the world. And it surely was Ace’s devil fruit, the last remaining part of her twin. To have it for herself would be to have him with her always, until the day she died. But it would also be a sacrifice, not only of the sea but of the fact that they were one soul in two bodies. To be a whole person in her own skin would be, wrong. But if Sabo ate the fruit, if Sabo was the one to inherit Ace’s powers and whatever remained of his spirit, then he’d be even more her brother than he already was.

“Of course.” she nodded once. “Then I’ll still be able to call you my twin.” she smiled, and Koala burst into the room with Hack to find the two blondes laughing. Ace was dead, and she would do her best to personally end the one responsible for that, but she and Sabo were still alive. And as long as they were alive, Ace would not be forgotten.


	5. Reunion

Anne reached into her bag, and pulled out a bottle of sake. She hadn’t even had to steal this one, though she’d considered it for old time’s sake. It had been a bit tricky to find a crew which had been allied with Whitebeard’s two years ago, but when they did cross paths with one the captain had been perfectly happy to give Anne directions to this island. It was peaceful here, so peaceful Ace probably would’ve hated it, but she couldn’t think of a more fitting place to put his grave. Well, except maybe Mt. Corvo, but here he’d been laid to rest alongside Whitebeard, and Anne couldn’t imagine that man’s spirit being at peace anywhere but the New World.

“Hey, Ace.” Sabo said quietly once she’d filled all four sakazuki cups. “We finally managed to get here.” Anne set the bottle of sake down, and knelt at Sabo’s side. He pulled yesterday’s newspaper out of his jacket, and shook it out so the front page was legible. “Look at this. Luffy’s back on his way to being king of the pirates.” he set the paper down so it was propped up against Ace’s grave. “That’s our little brother.” he smiled, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “It's so ironic. Since you've been gone, old memories keep recurring to me vividly."

Sabo ducked his head at that, and Anne filled the silence. “We’re part of the Revolutionary Army now. Ivankov told us the details of what happened at Marineford, but I think-” she pressed a hand over the empty spot next to her heart which still ached sometimes. “I think I already knew.” she smiled slightly, eyes fixed on the smooth white stone of her twin’s grave. “You’d probably hate to hear this, but, since you died I’ve taken dad’s name.”

Anne could practically feel her twin’s fury, but no amount of disapproval would change her mind. She wasn’t one to shy from danger, and it wasn’t like hiding their family name had done Ace any good in the end. The name Portgas was now just as dangerous as the name Gol, and if she was the daughter of the pirate king then by the gods she’d wear his family name like armour.

“I guess you and Luffy are both mad at us.” Sabo sniffled, a few tears leaking out and sliding down his face. “We couldn’t go save you.” he hunched forwards, and Anne wrapped his hand in hers. “I’m sorry.” he gripped her hand tightly, the wind ruffling their hair and making Ace’s hat bob on its stand. “I wish-” his voice hitched, but he didn’t sob. “I wish I could’ve seen you again while you were alive.”

Anne opened her mouth, but after that her statement of “I miss you” felt far too plain, so she shut it again and picked up one of the sakazuki cups. Sabo released her hand, and did the same. “I’ll inherit you will, Ace.” Sabo lifted his cup ever so slightly.

“The world will never forget either of us.” Anne raised her own hand, and gently tapped her cup against Sabo’s. They drank, and set the cups down more or less where they’d been before.

“Luffy is our little brother.” Sabo said quietly, putting his hat back on as they stood. Anne waited for him to finish the sentence, but he simply smiled at her twin’s gently bobbing hat and turned to walk back down the hill. Anne hesitated, and turned instead to Whitebeard’s grave. She’d admired the man’s strength as she admired the strength of Red Haired Shanks or Big Mom of Kaido, but knowing that her twin had chosen to claim this man as his father made her think maybe she should’ve admired him more.

She bowed briefly to the polished stone, to the massive weapon and billowing coat which hung from it, to the memory of the greatest pirate since Roger’s death. She straightened after a moment, and followed after her brother down the hill. They still had to get to Dressrosa, after all.

\---

Anne nearly jumped out of her skin when her denden mushi started shaking. An incoming call while she was on a stealth mission of this level meant something must have gone horribly terribly wrong outside. The speaker was turned down so low she had to hold the snail practically to her ear, but at least that meant nobody would overhear whoever was on the other end. She ducked into an alcove and tucked herself behind a dusty statue of some old queen with massive skirts.

“What’s wrong?” she hissed into the mouthpiece, bracing herself for the worst.

“Anne?”

Her heart all but stopped in her chest, and she nearly dropped the denden mushi. Even deepened by age, it’d be impossible for her not to recognize that tear-thick voice. Hell, the denden mushi’s tears were already dripping onto her shoulder. “Luffy?” she gasped.

“You’re aliiiive.” her baby brother bawled, and yep that was definitely Luffy. Even now he was such a crybaby.

“Give the denden mushi to Sabo.” she snapped quietly, knowing that the sensitized mic would transmit her voice properly. The tears stopped, and she glared at the snail phone. “I am on a stealth mission you asshole. That means unless somebody is dying _I_ call _you_ , not the other way round.” she jammed her thumb into the end call button before Sabo could reply, then carefully set the mouthpiece back in place and slipped it into her pocket. And if her step was lighter and her eyes damp as she snuck further into the castle, well, nobody saw her.

\---

Hours later, after the toys were turned back into humans and Doflamingo was dethroned (by their dumb baby brother, nonetheless) Anne found herself standing with Sabo outside a small house owned by the man named Kyros. The door opened when she knocked, and she smiled to see Robin on the other side. She’d been on a job with Koala when the archaeologist left, and it was good to see her friend again.

“I’ll wake Luffy.” Robin stepped aside as they entered, towards the bed which their baby brother was hogging, and Sabo shook his head.

“No need for that, Robin.”

“We just came to see his face one last time before leaving.” Anne supplemented.

“You’re leaving Dressrosa already?” Robin sat down in the chair she’d probably been occupying before they knocked, and Sabo followed suit in a chair by the table. Anne took a spot on the edge of the bed, next to “God” Usopp who was halfway sprawled on the floor. Luffy was heavily bandaged, which was hardly a surprise considering which Shichibukai he’d dethroned, and snoring away as loudly as ever.

“CP 0 have turned around and are heading for Dressrosa again. They're after us…” Sabo trailed off, then started up again. “Within a day or two, Dressrosa's going to be quite a hectic place. You guys should also set sail as soon as possible.”

“Still.” Anne could feel Zoro’s eyes locked on her, and turned to meet his gaze. “To think there were others besides Ace.” he tilted his head slightly. “You look just like him, y’know.”

“Well, he was my twin.” Anne shrugged. The past tense no longer hurt like a knife in her ribs, but it did make the emptiness next to her heart ache.

“Seriously?! This is the first I’ve ever heard of it.” Franky fixed her with his mismatched gaze, and Anne met it without fear. She’d seen far more frightening things than a half-skinless cyborg face.

“Luffy was probably the most surprised, to be honest.” Sabo stood from the wooden chair, and came to sit at Anne’s side. He placed a hand on Luffy’s ankle, and his face softened in a smile more fond than Anne had seen him wear in years.

“Hm?” Franky and Zoro tilted their heads curiously.

“Well, I- we-” Sabo stumbled over the words, so Anne finished the sentence. 

“All these years, he’s thought us dead.” she placed her hand over his, and he curled their fingers together immediately.

“When we were kids, Luffy Ace Anne and I, the four of us were quite a handful.” Sabo chuckled, and squeezed her hand.

Anne returned the pressure. “Old man Garp did his best to keep us on a short leash, but once we agreed on becoming pirates...” she trailed off, and shrugged.

“The four of us exchanged a vow of brotherhood over cups of sake. Well, I guess siblinghood is more accurate.” he chuckled, and leaned slightly against her side. Anne leaned against his weight, and tightened her grip on his hand. “But one day, Anne and I met with an accident. Or, well, calling it an ‘incident’ would be more accurate.”

“We stole a ship and set out to become pirates, but were shot down by a large ship coming into port. The only thing I remembered when I woke up was that I didn’t want to be separated from Sabo.”

“We didn’t even know our own names.” Sabo shook his head.

“So you were completely amnesic?” Zoro asked.

“The only thing clear to me was that I, at no cost, wanted to return to my parents. I didn't remember anything else.” Sabo’s grip on her hand tightened, and she leaned against him a bit more.

“Wow. Good thing your memories returned eventually.” Franky commented, fitting a new lense over his glowing eye.

“It was Ace.” Anne smiled wryly. “His timing couldn’t have been any worse, but maybe that’s why he brought everything back for us.” she squeezed Sabo’s hand hard enough to probably break a normal person’s fingers, then released it to turn and brush Luffy’s hair out of his face.

“Well then, we’re off.” Sabo stood, and the bed creaked a bit.

“Already?” Robin sounded almost regretful, which Anne supposed was a bit understandable.

“I got to see his face.” Sabo chuckled, and reached into his jacket. “By the way, this is a vivre card for Luffy. I went ahead and had one made.”

Zoro frowned. “When'd you get the time to-”

“I've got pieces for Anne and myself.” Sabo interrupted the swordsman, ripping off two roughly square pieces. Anne accepted the one he handed to her, tucking it in her shirt’s breast pocket. “And, well, I can only imagine what it's like trying to keep the reigns on Luffy but... I'm leaving him in your hands.”

“Gotcha!” Franky beamed, tears streaming from his eyes.  
“Don’t you worry.” Robin smiled serenely.

“Man, that’s almost exactly what Ace said to us.” Zoro chuckled.

Anne bent over, and pressed a kiss to Luffy’s forehead. “Keep living, okay?” she whispered as Sabo gave Robin a tight hug.

Luffy mumbled something which, surprisingly, didn’t seem to be about meat, and his face relaxed into a smile. The tightness in her chest, which had lessened after she got that call on the denden mushi, melted away completely. This was what she’d needed, ever since she regained her memories. The knowledge that her baby brother was safe and loved, with loyal friends to protect him while his older siblings could not. She stood, gave Robin a hug of her own, and just seconds after they stepped out the door Sabo’s denden mushi rang.

They had a job to do.


End file.
